New Law Helping South Dakota Drivers With Traffic Cameras

Leland Steva reports:

Sioux City, IA

Cameras still watch over Interstate 29 in Sioux City, but some say the impact of those cameras may not be felt by South Dakota drivers.

State Senator Dan Lederman of Dakota Dunes helped pass a new law which prevents automatic tickets for South Dakota drivers who speed past the cameras. Lederman says he doesn't have an issue with traffic cameras themselves, just how Sioux City handles issuing the fines.

"Most of the complaints were from people who were the owners of vehicles but they were being driven by somebody else and they received a notice in the mail saying, 'Hey you owe 168 dollars for speeding,' when they weren't even near the location," Senator Dan Lederman said.

Under the new law South Dakota drivers aren't free of the fines they receive from traffic cameras.

It simply prohibits South Dakota officials from sharing the data Iowa has used to collect those fines.

"What South Dakota is hoping to achieve is to stop the ticket before it actually gets to the mailbox of the individual by not giving out the driver information," Lederman said.

The new law places restrictions on the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, which is where Redflex used to get the information to issue civil tickets to South Dakotans.

Even with the new law in place, Sioux City Police say speeders can still expect to get a ticket in the mail. Redflex will just find other ways to track drivers down.

"There's people all over the State of South Dakota and all over the country that come through the Siouxland area and it's not fair to rob them of their due rights, their due process rights," Lederman said.

The law only affects civil cases. Lederman says driver's information will be given out if it's used in South Dakota's criminal court.